Thursday, 26 March 2015

Sereapi, Ritual Self Burning in Bugis Land

In general there is a habit of all ethnic customs express gratitude when harvest time arrives. Traditional practices that are usually done in the form of ceremony, ritual or festival folk heritage hereditary conducted every year after harvest.

A traditional rituals performed grateful crops in the district Tellulimpoe, Bone regency, South Sulawesi is an extreme ritual execution by burning the body itself. Bugis people call it Sereapi ritual. Sereapi is excited expression tradition and gratitude to the authors of abundant harvests.

In this action Sereapi tradition, people took turns dancing on a glowing ember, lay the body even eat embers. Surprisingly, none of them feel the heat much less flammable. Sere in Bugis means rocking or moving, so Sereapi basically means moving and swaying in the fire.

Before the ritual Sereapi held, there is a ritual beating the drums first performed while bonfire prepared. After flaming embers were prepared, one by one man jumping while dancing on it. not just dancing, they also lay the body on a bonfire even glowing embers that included the mouth. Movements to the rhythm of drums and looks like a person experiencing a state of unconsciousness.

This tradition is an extreme action customs hereditary still preserved by the Bugis people inland and is still to be found in some areas in South Sulawesi among others in Bone and Barru.